Left of Center
by Risa1
Summary: (Sequel to Regrets) A witch is after Cole to avenge her own death. Could Cole get himself out of this mess without hurting himself or the witch? Or will this cause a new divide between the Charmed Ones and Cole? *Chapter 3 (finally!)*
1. Prologue

Left of Center

By Risa

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Charmed (I wouldn't be slogging away in school if I did) – no copyright infringement intended. 

Summary: While Cole is working with an organisation of neutrals, a witch is killed and she's now seeking revenge. How will the Charmed Ones react and will Cole be able to survive this?

Author's Note: This is the sequel to Regrets… Just a reminder everything in Season 5 hasn't happened yet. This chapter actually has more action in it than most of my stories usually do, so comments are really appreciated. I hope you'll like it. :-)

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Prologue

            Cole woke up to the sound of his mobile phone vibrating on the bedside table. He reached for the phone and answered blurrily, "Hello?"

            "Cole? It's Basil."

            "Basil?" Cole said, his mind shaking off the last vestiges of sleep, "Why the hell are you calling me this early?"

            "There's an emergency," Basil said, "We need your help."

            Cole got up from the bed quietly, careful not to disturb the still-sleeping Phoebe. He walked out of the room, down the stairs and into the foyer, talking softly. "What happened?"

            "A group from the side of good managed to capture three high level demons. They're now torturing the demons for information. We need help to stop it."

            "Basil," Cole objected, "you know that I don't work against good now. You _know the kind of dilemma it presents with Phoebe being a witch – "_

            "I know," Basil interrupted, "and I wouldn't ask if we weren't really short of people right now. About three-quarters of the neutrals are still in the Underworld, some undercover and some dealing with one of the Source's new 'projects'. You've gotta help."

            Cole sighed. Even at its peak, the neutrals only had about fifty people. Granted, all of the neutrals were well-connected when it came to gathering information, but when force was needed, they were too thinly-spread. He knew that the neutrals needed all the help they could get. "All right," he said in resignation, "where is everything going down?"

            Basil gave him the location, "Get there as soon as you can," he added, "all you're got to do is rescue the demons. The rest of them will meet you outside the warehouse." When the call ended, Cole changed his clothes and stood over the table with a pen in hand, trying to figure out what to write. Should he tell Phoebe the truth?

            He hesitated. It might be better if he didn't. He'll just go there, do what he was supposed to do and go home. No point making anyone suspicious for no reason. In the end, he wrote:

_Dear Phoebe,_

_The neutrals just called me to do some work for them. I'll be back as soon as I can. _

_Love,_

_Cole_

            _That should do the trick, Cole thought, as he left the piece of paper on the table and vanished from the room. _

            It was another five minutes before the other four arrived. They greeted each other tersely before attending to the matter at hand. "All right," Elise said, taking out a small square of paper from her jacket. Elise used to be a witch, but had grown disillusioned with the side of good. The Elders now regarded her as something like an outlaw. She was cool, competent but reserved. Her grey eyes looked at them intensely as she said, "Here's the plan for the warehouse. The demons are located here," she pointed to a room in the middle of the map, "We got some people to scry and we managed to locate most of the magical traps. We might not have gotten all of them though, so be careful. The demons are located here," Elise pointed to a room in the middle of the map.

            "Then Cole and Solaxas will get the rest of the demons out," Elise continued. Solaxas was a demon, but, like Elise, he had become disillusioned with his own side. "The rest of us will try and hold back any kind of pursuit. Lerisa will get us out once you guys are clear." Lerisa, like Basil, had come from a family of neutrals. She was young – still in her early twenties and still had an exuberance and enthusiasm which was a nice change from the cynicism most of the other neutrals had, Cole admitted to himself.

            "What about the goodies?" Yarish asked. He used to be a warlock and had a strange ability of coming out of the messiest of fights still looking as neat and elegant as ever. No one actually knew much about him and he was probably more reserved than Elise.

            "Nobody touches them, unless you absolutely have to," Elise replied. "And I mean it," she said, glaring at the ex-warlock and the ex-demon.

            "Did we say we were going to do anything?" Solaxas said innocently.

            "Don't even think about it," Elise said. "Let's get to work," she said, folding the map and placing it back in the jacket as she walked into the warehouse with the rest of them following behind. 

            Throughout everything, Cole had been watching quietly. Even when he was a demon, Cole had often led this sort of operations. But he also spent a lot of time working alone, especially during his time with the neutrals. He had never worked with this group of people before and had decided the best thing for him now was to quietly watch and figure out how to work with them. The four of them had obviously worked a lot together and Elise was probably the de facto leader. If Cole tried to assert authority, it could create problems and the task was risky enough as it was. So, he guarded the rear and allowed the rest of them proceeded in front of him. 

            They moved warily, each keeping a lookout for any traps. Cole glanced up and saw a glowing blue net about to fall on them. With an almost negligent wave of his hand, the net dissipated with an orange glow. The rest of them nodded their thanks. They continued down the dark passage ways, disabling the traps one by one. As they got nearer to the room where the demons were being held, they could hear shouting and growls of pain.

            This had given them some preparation for what they were going to see. When they entered the room, they saw three demons chained against the wall, their bodies bloody and battered. There were four people covered in hoods in the room, and one of them was flinging one of the demons across the room and another was throwing daggers at him. All the demons had morphed into their demonic form – probably because they were too weak to keep their human form intact. One of the hooded people noticed the six of them standing by the doorway and released five darts aimed at each of them. With a casual flick of his hand, Solaxas caused the darts to fall harmlessly on the ground. He and Cole ran to the three chained demons. Cole placed his hand on the chains to release the demons from them. But the chains were spelled against demonic powers. 

            "Elise!" Cole shouted. "Solaxas, cover her." Solaxas released an energy ball even as Elise made a dash over. "The chains are spelled," he said. Elise began to chant softly and the chains glowed with a white light. One of the hooded people rushed towards the two of them with a dagger. Cole threw her against the wall. 

"Done," Elise said after a moment. Cole used his powers to break the metal apart. When his hands touched the shoulder of one of the demons, the demon groaned in pain. At present, all of them were barely conscious. He yelled to Solaxas, "You get these guys. I'll get the other one." The demon that had been flung around now lay comatose in the corner of the room. Cole disappeared and reappeared at that corner of the room. 

Cole was bending over to touch the demon's shoulder when he heard someone shout, "Watch out!" He turned and saw Yarish releasing a fireball at one of the hooded people who had been not far behind him. There was no time to respond, Cole could already sense the opening of a traveling portal. Reinforcements must have been called. They needed to get out quick. He bent, held the shoulder of the demon, and transported both of them to the safe-house the neutrals had designated for them.

When he arrived, Solaxas was already there. Minutes later, the other three arrived in the safe-house. Immediately after they arrived, Elise pulled her hand out Yarish's and shouted, "Damn it, Yarish! I told you – _no casualties!"_

"Hey, if I didn't acted like I did, Cole here would be dead," Yarish said defensively.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much," Cole said. This was why he didn't want to go on jobs like this anymore. He had promised Phoebe and her sisters that he would try not to hurt anyone good. 

            "You're _so welcome," Yarish said sarcastically._

            "Even so, you didn't have to kill the guy," Elise argued. 

            "That's enough," Lerisa interrupted. "This isn't the place to argue. Let's just patch these demons up and get them to where they belong, okay?"

            It was late in the morning when Cole returned to the Manor. He appeared outside the door and walked in. He had agreed not to suddenly appear in the house after his sudden appearance in the attic had caused Paige to draw a vase at him, thinking a demon had attacked. He walked into the kitchen, where Phoebe was sitting in front of her laptop, typing. "Hi honey," he greeted, as he kissed the top of her head and walked to the counter to pour some coffee. 

            "Hi," Phoebe greeted, taking off her glasses and smiling at Cole. "What happened? Is everything okay?"

            "Yeah, everything's fine. It was just some routine stuff," Cole replied rather evasively. He had decided that it might be better if Phoebe didn't know about the day's events. Cole didn't know what sort of reaction he was going to get, especially when someone from the side of good had been killed.

            Someone who could have been a witch.

            "Okay..." Phoebe said, "You're just overflowing with details." She searched Cole's eyes – he had always been rather open with what he did for the neutrals. When they got back together, they had agreed that they would be open with each other. Since then, they had managed to keep the agreement and it wasn't like Cole to be this reticent and evasive.  

            "I'm sorry," Cole said, "I'm just tired. I'll give you the details some other time?"

            "I guess I'll just have to wait," she said, standing up. She told herself not to be paranoid. If something important had happened, Cole would tell her eventually. 

She hoped. 

She walked to Cole and kissed him gently, a kiss which Cole returned with equal gentleness. "I've got an interview with some magazine later today," she said, when the kiss ended. "We'll talk when I get back? You get some rest."

            Cole nodded. As Phoebe walked out of the kitchen, Cole sighed. He just _knew he should have stayed out of this in the first place. _

            Solaxas shimmered into his apartment, grateful for some peace and quiet. As he was about to check his answering machine, he saw a young girl of about seven years old, sitting on his couch, looking at him steadily. "How did you get in here?" Solaxas asked in surprise.

            The girl didn't reply. Her brow furrowed a little and then Solaxas felt something cold pierce his body. He looked down to see a sword sticking out of his chest. He fell to the ground, wincing in pain as the girl began to chant.

            It was a vanquishing spell.

            The look of surprise was still on Solaxas's face as he felt the flames consume him. The smile on the girl's face was still eerily tranquil. As his awareness was about to slip into nothingness, he thought he heard the girl's voice murmur softly, "Revenge is always sweet."

*~ To Be Continued ~* 

Author's Note: I know, this chapter doesn't show all that much about the Charmed Ones, or even Cole for that matter. But they'll definitely appear a lot more in the later chapters. This is just to set out some of the basic stuff. :-)       


	2. Chapter 1

Left of Center

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Prologue

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Chapter One

            It was two days later when Basil abruptly appeared. Cole had been in his office, behind a large pile of files and working on some paperwork when he heard Basil's voice. "We have a problem."

            "There are things known as phones and doors," Cole said irritably. "What happened?"

            "In the past two days, three neutrals have been killed. All of them were in your team in the mission two days ago. Only you and Yarish are still alive. Obviously, we think that someone wants to kill everyone who participated in the mission."

            "What!" Cole said, shocked. He just _knew he shouldn't have gotten involved – all it brought was one problem after another. He still hadn't told Phoebe anything about what happened; he figured he could just put it behind him. All of the neutrals that were killed were strong. To have killed them within two days… "Any idea who's behind it?" he asked Basil._

            Basil shook his head. "We figure it's probably for revenge but we haven't been able to figure out more than that."

            "Great," Cole said with annoyance, "This is just wonderful."

            "Anyway, the Committee sent me here to send you to a safehouse they've got set up. Yarish is there already."

            "No, forget it. I can protect myself," Cole said.

            "At least until we find out who's behind this," Basil persuaded, "Give a call to Phoebe."

            "That's the point! What am I going to tell Phoebe? Sorry, I was on a mission a couple of days ago and a witch got killed. And oh yeah, there's a killer after me because of that. She's going to take that _so well."_

            "You haven't told her?" Basil said in surprise, "Why not?"

            "Basil, think. Phoebe – witch. A witch died. Do I need to draw the connections?" 

            Basil sighed. "From what you told me, keeping secrets from each other has been a major source of problems in your relationship. I thought you'd have learnt your lesson by now. In any case, you have to tell her. She has the right to know. In fact…" Basil paused, thinking. "In fact, whoever's after you might attack _her to get to __you."_

            Cole looked at Basil, alarmed. What Basil said made sense.

            Damn.

            "If that's the case, there's _no way I'm going to a safehouse," Cole said, "I'm __not going to leave Phoebe if she's in danger."_

            "You're just too bloody obstinate," Basil said sourly. "All right, tell you what – I'll tell the Committee that you refuse to go to the safehouse. I'll see if they're willing to have some neutrals keep watch over you and Phoebe and her sisters." He grimaced. "It's more work and they probably aren't going to like it much but…"

            "I don't care what they do," Cole said firmly, "I'm not going."

            "Yes, Cole, I got the message. You've only told me about a hundred times," Basil said, rolling his eyes. "I'll go check with the Committee now. Meanwhile, I want you to go to Phoebe and tell her the truth." He saw the look of reluctance on Cole's face. "You _have to tell her." _

            "Fine," Cole said, raising his hands in surrender.

            "Okay," Basil said, somewhat mollified. "I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, he vanished from the room.

            Cole sighed and picked up his phone to call Phoebe. He was definitely _not looking forward to this conversation._

            "What are you guys doing here?" Phoebe asked in surprise as she entered the living room to find Piper, Paige and Leo seated at the couch, waiting. 

            "We don't know," Paige said, "Cole called us. We thought you might know why."

            "I don't," Phoebe said, frowning. "He just told me that we had to talk and to come home."

            "Any ideas what this is about?" Piper asked. 

            Phoebe shook her head. "Well, he _has been rather evasive lately…"_

            "Cole. Evasive. Not a good combination," Paige remarked.

            "Paige…" Phoebe began, but she lacked the conviction to defend Cole. In her heart, the idea of Cole keeping secrets from her gave her a sense of trepidation. 

            "Well, whatever it is, it better be good," Paige grumbled. "I had to do a lot of fast talking to get out of the office."

            Leo glanced at the clock. "He better get here soon. We've got to pick Mel up from playschool."

             Just then, Cole entered the living room. "Great, all of you are here," Cole said as he sat down in the armchair. His nervous tension was obvious to all four of them.

            "Cole, what's this about?" Phoebe said.

            Cole took a deep breath. "You guys know that a couple of days ago I went on a mission for the neutrals, right?"

            They nodded.

            "What I _didn't tell you was that this mission was to rescue a bunch of demons that were being tortured by people on the side of good. In the process…" Cole paused, steeling himself against the reaction he knew he was going to get. "In the process, a witch was killed."_

            "_You were one of the people involved?" Leo said, with shock and some anger. He had heard about the incident the last time he was called back to the Elders. It had already taken some time before Leo could get used to the idea that Cole was working for the neutrals. And now this had happened. _

            "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Phoebe demanded. "I thought you said you wouldn't go against good!"

            "How could you kill a witch?" Piper demanded as well. Although on some level all of them knew that the neutrals did go against good as well, they had never really gave the matter any serious consideration. They had never realized that witches could get killed in the process, just like demons. This, to them, was still something difficult to imagine. How could anyone not evil kill a good witch? 

            "I knew it," Paige muttered, "I just _knew everything was too good to be true."_

            "Wait!" Cole shouted. "Let me finish! You don't all have to yell at me at the same time." The four of them slowly calmed down and fell silent. "Look, I _wasn't the one who killed her. There weren't supposed to be any casualties. The witch was about to attack me and Yarish just reacted. Nobody wanted this to happen."_

            "Right," Leo said skeptically.

            Cole sighed with exasperation. He had known from the beginning that this wasn't going to be easy. "Look, if we were really evil I wouldn't have told you all this, would I?"

            "Cole, I don't think you're evil," Phoebe said gently. "But the fact is that you _were involved in the death of an innocent witch and that will take us some time to accept."_

            "Phoebe, they were torturing demons," Cole argued, "I don't think I'll call that innocent."

            "They were _demons," Paige said._

            "And that makes it right?" Cole said skeptically. "But let's not argue about this right now," he continued, before Paige could argue. "There are more important things to worry about. Because of this incident, someone's out killing all the people who participated in the mission. Out of a team of five, only two of us are still living. You all could get hurt by the people who are after me."

            "Great. This is just wonderful," Piper said, her sarcasm tinged with anger. 

            "Revenge on witches for killing a witch," Paige said, "_Not something I would have expected."_

            "Paige," Phoebe said, shaking her head. She could see the worry in Cole's face, as well as the guilt at having brought this on them. She couldn't blame Cole – he didn't want all this to happen either. When Cole told her that he was going to continue working with the neutrals, she should have guessed that something like this could happen.

            Before anyone could say anything, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Cole said, walking towards the door. He needed to move, get away from the tension in the room even if it was just for a couple of minutes. He opened the door to find a girl about nine or ten standing in front of him, holding a large box. 

            "Hi," she greeted cheerfully. "We're raising funds for a new playground and we're selling cookies. Would you like to buy some?"

            Cole looked down at the sweet innocence of the girl and smiled softly. It was moments like these that reminded him just how different he was from the demon he used to be, the change that began since he met Phoebe. "How much?" he said, taking his wallet out from his jacket. 

            "Five dollars." Cole began to search through his wallet for a five dollar note.

            Meanwhile, Phoebe was heading to the kitchen to get herself something to drink and give her some time to sort through her thoughts. She saw Cole talking to the young girl at the door. As she was about to turn to the kitchen, something silver caught her eye. 

            A knife floating behind Cole's back.

            "Cole!" she shouted in warning. Cole turned and saw the knife heading towards him. With a quick wave of his hand he stopped the knife in the air and with another wave of his hand, moved it away. Just then, he felt something hit his back and he was flung against the wall. 

            "Cole!" Phoebe cried, rushing to his side. Cole sat up, shaking his head to shake off the impact. The two of them looked at the young girl in shock. She had a smirk on her face. 

            "What's going on?" Leo asked as he, Paige and Piper ran out. They looked at the scene in front of them in confusion.

            "What are you doing here?" Cole demanded as he stood up, with Phoebe supporting him.

            The girl laughed. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here for revenge – to give you what you deserve."

            "Who are you?" Phoebe asked softly. How could a _kid be behind all the killings?_

            "Can't you guess? I'm the witch _he killed not too long ago," the girl said coldly, her finger pointed accusatorily at Cole._

            All eyes turned to Cole, staring. "I wasn't the one who killed you," Cole said firmly.

            "True," the girl conceded, "but you were part of the reason why I died." With that, two knives flew towards Cole with deadly speed. Cole used his powers again to fling them aside harmlessly. Then, he released a bolt of energy at the girl.

            "No!" Paige shouted as she orbed beside the girl and pulled her down to the ground, dodging the bolt. Then the girl simply vanished into thin air.

            "What the hell did you do that for?" Cole demanded in frustration.

            "I'm not going to let you kill a kid!" Paige said defensively.

            "Well, she was trying to kill me!" 

            "Cole," Piper said, trying to keep her voice calm. "She _is a child. And a witch. You can't expect us to let you kill her." _

            "You didn't say anything about the witch being a kid," Phoebe said.

            "She wasn't. I don't know why she's one now," Cole paused, thinking. The power of ghosts was limited. A ghost wouldn't have been able to carry out all the killing. But if a ghost possessed someone alive… "The kid could be possessed," Cole said aloud.

            "All the more reason not to kill her," Paige said, "the girl's innocent."

            "I wasn't going to kill her," Cole said wearily, "I was just going to stun her." 

            "So what are we going to do?" Phoebe asked.

            "Whatever we do, we've got to try and make sure that the girl doesn't get hurt. Ideally, the ghost would leave willingly but…" Leo trailed off, aware of the difficulties. 

            Cole sighed. That_ was the problem. Right now, the only way the ghost was going to leave willingly was if both Cole and Yarish were dead. On the other hand, they wouldn't want to do something that would hurt the ghost or the girl. Cole could see no way out of this conundrum. Whatever happened, someone was going to get hurt. _

*~ To Be Continued ~*


	3. Chapter 2

Left of Center

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Prologue

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Chapter Two

            "Let's just see if there's anything else that we can try first," Phoebe said. _Something that doesn't involve letting her kill Cole, she added silently. She couldn't lose him. Not now. Not after all that they had been through. _

            Just then, Leo said, glancing upwards, "I've got to go. They're calling. You guys would be okay, right?"

            Piper nodded. "Don't worry," she said, as Leo orbed away. Then she turned to the others. "There should be an exorcism spell in the Book. But we need to find some way of preventing this ghost from possessing someone else and to get her to move on."

            Suddenly, without warning, Basil appeared in front of them, flustered. "Cole, I tried to persuade the Committee but they seemed to have taken a double dose of stubbornness with their coffee this morning," he said the moment he arrived. "They still want you in the safe house."

            "We really need to find some sort of an alarm system for you guys," Paige muttered under her breath. "All this sudden appearances can't be good for the heart."

            "Sorry," Basil said sheepishly. "I was in a hurry. I wanted to get here before anything happened."

            "Well, you're late," Phoebe said, "She already came by." She gestured at the two knives lying on the floor.

            "Well, at least you're still alive," Basil said, sighing.

            "Always looking on the bright side, aren't you?" Piper remarked.

            "Anyway, it seems like the person behind this is the ghost of the dead witch," Cole said to Basil. "We think she might have possessed a girl."

            "I'll pass this on to the Committee and see if they've found anything," Basil said, nodding. "But right now we have to get you to the safe house."

            "What if she attacks again?" Cole argued, not willing to leave Phoebe.

            "Cole, I think we can take care of ourselves," Phoebe said, smiling reassuringly. "It's more important that we get you to somewhere safe." 

            "And I did manage to get some people to watch over the place," Basil added.

            Before any of the sisters could protest, Leo orbed back into the room. "The Elders called me to tell you not to interfere in this, not even to protect Cole. They don't want you to have any involvement with the neutrals. They say that they've had enough of the neutrals and they're going to take measures."

            "Great. This is just _fantastic," Basil said sarcastically. "I'm just __sick of this sort of crap. You couldn't care __less about what you do so long as it's in the name of the "greater good". But God forbid that someone else should try this sort of thing on you. Face it – all of you just want power like everybody else. Stop putting yourselves on the bloody pedestal." His eyes glowed with anger and he stomped out of the house, slamming the door behind him. _

            For a moment, all of them stared in silence. In all the months that they had known Basil, they had never seen him lose his cool like this before. "What's wrong with him?" Phoebe said, stunned. 

            "Well, it was totally unfair of him to say that," Paige said, once she covered from her own shock and was about to follow Basil out of the door to argue.

            "Hold on," Cole moved in front of Paige, stopping her. "I'll talk to him. Something's bothering him… He's not usually like this." He walked out of the door and found Basil sitting on the steps, staring at the road, pensive.

            "Hey, what's wrong?" Cole asked, sitting down beside Basil. "I've never seen you snap like that."

            "Nothing really," Basil said, "it's just…" he sighed. "It's just Kiara died on this day four years ago." 

            "I'm sorry," Cole said, not sure of what to say. Basil always seemed so cheerful, so happy-go-lucky that few realized that the happy exterior masked the deep, lingering sadness that he carried with him since his wife's death.

            "What are you sorry for?" Basil said, managing a weak smile. "I was okay, really. I would probably have brooded about it once I got home but I could still function normally. Then, after hearing what Leo said, something just snapped. I lost it. They never considered that the actions of their people might be wrong. Everything was basically our fault. It just reminded me of what happened four years ago.

            "I came home after work that evening and found Kiara lying on the ground with two witches standing above her, chanting. There was a knife on the ground and there was blood everywhere. I shouted at the witches to stop and rushed to Kiara's side. She was barely conscious. Her face was pale, so pale…" Basil trailed off, lost in memory.

            "I wanted to kill them but Kiara didn't want me to leave her. The witches decided to leave us alone – they figured that they had done enough damage. Before they left, one of them turned to me and said, with such disgust, "How could you love a _demon?" I never felt as much hate as I did right then. They didn't see the good in Kiara, the sweetness and the kindness. They only saw the half demon and they damned her for it."_

            For a moment, the two of them sat there in silence. This was the first time he had heard this. He knew about Basil and his wife, Kiara, but that was from what the others had told him. Basil never liked talking about his past. Now, Cole finally understood why Basil was so dedicated to the neutrals. "And you still manage to work with witches after everything?" Cole asked, curious.

            "It took some time," Basil admitted, smiling wryly. "Then I realized that Kiara had shown me the danger of generalizing demons. I thought I should know better than to generalize about other people, even witches." 

            "What happened to the witches who killed Kiara?" 

            "Dead," Basil said flatly. "I made sure of it." Then he sighed. "It's not something that I'm proud of. Don't believe anyone who tells you that revenge is sweet." Then he pushed away all his sadness and regret and stood up. "Enough of this brooding," he said, with a small grin. "Let's go back in." 

            "Do you think he's right?" Paige asked pensively, as Cole left to talk to Basil. "That the ends don't always justify the means?"

            "I don't know," Leo said honestly. "Some people do believe that it doesn't matter what they do, so long as the job gets done. But I always believed that we need to draw the line somewhere – that you'll eventually reach a point where your actions just _aren't justified, however noble your cause may be."_

            "But where's that line? When do you say "That's enough"?" 

            "That's just something you have to decide for yourself," Leo said. "_You will have to decide which is more important. The thing is, sometimes you can start out with the best intentions but once you get a taste of power…"_

            "Power corrupts, huh," Phoebe said, smiling wryly.

            Leo nodded. "There are things which Basil said that I don't agree with, but he's got a point."

            "So were the witches really wrong in torturing the demons?" Piper said, thoughtfully. "These _were demons after all and they probably did their fair share of torturing."_

            "But is that enough to justify their actions? On one hand you condemn these demons for using torture, yet you use the same methods in punishing them. Doesn't seem like you're upholding the principles that you claim to be upholding," Basil said, as he entered the room.

            "Now I'm getting a headache," Paige said, shaking her head. "This is too much for one afternoon."

            Basil smiled at them apologetically. "Sorry about the outburst earlier. It was unfair of me to make all those generalizations. As for all these moral issues, we could spend days arguing and still not reach any conclusion. Maybe we should leave it till this thing's over?"

            Phoebe nodded, sighing in relief. "My mind was beginning to go round in circles," she confessed.

            Suddenly their voices faded into the distance as Cole became acutely aware of the pounding in his head, of voices hissing in his mind, insistent, demanding. His vision began to blur and he clutched his head, trying to force the voices out.

            "Cole?" Phoebe said in concern, placing her hand on his shoulder.

            Cole pushed her hand away, violently. For a moment he lost all awareness of his surroundings and was only aware of the overwhelming urge to destroy whatever that was in his path. The voices grew louder, more insistent. Finally, unable to control himself, Cole threw an energy ball, not caring what it hit, so long as it hit _something. Slowly, the voices faded away, satiated for the moment. He became aware of his surroundings once more and found himself lying on the ground, with the rest of them standing around him, wary and concerned._

Cole sat up slowly, with the help of Phoebe. Then he noticed the burnt and broken dining table. "Did I do that?" he asked, hoping against hope that it hadn't been him.

            Phoebe nodded. "What happened?" she asked softly.

            Cole looked down at his hand as if it was alien to him. "I think I'm losing control over my powers."

            "_What!" Phoebe said, shocked. "How?"_

            "I don't know," Cole said, shaking his head in confusion, "All I could hear were voices whispering at me to destroy and I felt like a passenger in my own body…" As he spoke, Basil took Cole's wrist and appeared to be listening for something. Then his face darkened.

            "Damn," Basil said as he began to swear. "We were afraid that this might happen."

            "What were you afraid of?" Phoebe demanded, a sense of foreboding creeping into her.  

            "The demon essences that Cole absorbed. We were worried that they contained more than just the powers of the demons. We thought that they could still have part of the demon's awareness in them which might try to take control of Cole's body."

            "Why didn't you say something before?" Cole snapped.

            "It was just a theory and you showed no sign of losing control at all so we didn't think much about it," he winced, "looks like we were wrong."

            "You mean after three years of total peace and quiet these demon essences _suddenly decide they want to be in the driver's seat?" Cole said, incredulous._

            Basil nodded. "I don't know what happened to set it off and I don't know how much time you have before they try to take control again," he admitted. "We need to get you to the Committee right now."

            Cole looked down at the look of worry on Phoebe's face and caressed her cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon." He was beginning to feel helpless, powerless. Their relationship had already been complicated by the death of the witch. Now this… He didn't know what he had done wrong to be put through all this. He left with Basil, his heart heavy. 

            As she watched Cole and Basil disappear, Phoebe felt tears well in her eyes. She should have guessed that something like this would happen. Each time she had said to herself, "This time it will work. This time everything would be all right" but something always happened to screw everything up. She was sick of it. Totally and utterly sick of it. Fate always seemed to be toying around with them, showing them paradise then taking it away just as it was within reach. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. Just as she felt like giving up, she remembered what Cole had said not so long ago…

            _"There are no certainties, Phoebe. __I can't give you that. I can tell you that I don't intend to become evil again but that doesn't mean that something won't happen to change that._

_            "I'll like to tell you not to worry, that this time everything will be okay, but the thing is, I can't. I want to do good, stay good and I definitely __don't want any harm to come to you or your sisters but what I want doesn't always matter."_

_            I've just been concerned about how all this affects me, Phoebe realised, __I haven't thought about how this affects Cole. All that I'm feeling is insignificant compared to what he's probably going through. After all that has happened he has never given up on me, on us. I can't give up now. He needs me. And our situation is not all that desperate yet.___

            "Phoebe?" Piper said gently, putting her hand on Phoebe's shoulder. 

            "I'll be fine," Phoebe said, smiling weakly. "Let's figure out what to do about that ghost. I don't care what the Elders say. I'm not letting her take Cole."

_Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait! This chapter took so long mainly because of my exams but also because it gave me a lot of problems. I've edited it several times and even then I'm still not all that satisfied with it. If anyone seems out of character here (as compared to Season 5), it's because I'm currently seeking refuge in my own fanfic world and probably went overboard._

*~ To Be Continued ~*_                ___


	4. Chapter 3

Left of Center

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Prologue

Author's Note: Sorry about the *huge* delay. Hopefully my writing hasn't gotten too rusty… 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter Three

            Basil's eyes opened as he returned to his body. He stood up from his chair as Cole materialized in his office. "Sorry about the mess," Basil said, gesturing at the piles of files, papers and assorted magical paraphernalia that was scattered all over his desk. 

            "_This is a mess?" Cole said skeptically. "Looks pretty much like normal."_

            Basil chose to ignore the comment. "Let's go," he said, as he walked out. They passed several offices on their way to the conference room. This was the headquarters of the neutrals, who worked behind the front of a legitimate business organization. It served as a cover for their operations but also as a source of income. Cole remembered what Basil had told him when he first arrived at the headquarters.

            _"The kind of work we do makes it pretty difficult for us to have a normal job. And all that stuff about 'upholding our sacred duty' and 'protectin__g f__ree will' doesn't put food on the table," Basil had said wryly. "We still need to pay the bills and our jobs can be pretty__ expensive." _

            They walked into the conference room – the nerve centre of the Committee's operations. The conference room only existed in name when there were no outsiders present. It was crammed with computers and other state-of-the-art equipment as well as a wide and esoteric range of magical supplies and resources. The seven neutrals that made up the Committee now looked busy and edgy.

            "What is it now, Basil?" Beatrice, one of the members of the Committee, asked irritably as the rest of the neutrals momentarily stopped their work.

            "We've got a _slight problem," Basil said, "the demon essences that Cole absorbed in the Wasteland are trying to gain control."_

            "Great," Beatrice sighed. "Wonderful timing as usual." 

            "Let's take a look," Aidan said, waving over Cole to an empty chair beside him. He took Cole's wrist and held it lightly. He looked thoughtful, as if listening to something. His examination seemed to go on forever.

            "Well?" Cole asked impatiently.

Aidan sighed. "The demon essences have twisted themselves around your own essence like a wire, assimilating and absorbing all that you are. That's why they are beginning to take control."

           "So I'm just a time-bomb waiting to explode?" Cole asked, with some resignation. This had happened far too often. If there was a divinity it obviously enjoyed torturing him.

           "Not exactly," Aidan said slowly, "You still have some time to untwine the demon essences and send them back to where they belong."

           "The Wasteland," Cole said grimly.

           Aidan nodded.

           "I hate to say this but we've still got a witch that's hell-bent on revenge after Cole – " Basil began.

           "Two of our agents in the side of good have just been killed," Beatrice interrupted as she slammed down the phone in anger. "Seems like good has decided to get back at us as well."

           "That was another thing that I was supposed to tell you," Basil said. "They seemed to have adopted an 'enough is enough' attitude."

           "That's strange," Beatrice said, puzzled. "True, they'll rather see us gone, but they've always grudgingly accepted our purpose and what we had to do. They know that even though accidents sometimes happen, we aren't targeting them specifically. Why the sudden change?"

"True," Aidan agreed. "Maybe we should get someone to look into this."

"That's if we manage to find someone who's available," Beatrice said wryly. "We're really short of people right now."

"And we still have Cole's problem to deal with," Basil said. 

"Wait," Cole interrupted, "I need to know this. If we send back the demon essences back to the Wasteland I'll become human again?" 

Aidan nodded.

Cole didn't know if he should be delighted or worried by the news. On the one hand, becoming human was something he had longed for. To have a normal relationship with Phoebe…

But Phoebe was a Charmed One. Her life could never be normal. Even if he became normal, they still might not have a normal relationship – as past experience showed. And he'll be vulnerable as a human. Quite possibly a liability.

Aidan could see the inner conflict Cole was facing. "You could be something more than just a normal human. We could try to develop the magical potential in your human side."

"What?" Cole said, puzzled. He had never heard of anything like this before.

"Every human has the potential to develop magical powers. However, most of the time this potential goes undeveloped since people don't know how to make use of it. Witches are basically humans who have developed this potential – they're born with the innate knowledge of how to exploit it. It'll be much easier for you than most humans because you were a half demon once, so you're already tuned to magic and the supernatural. I _think_ we should be able to develop your mind such that you'll be able to protect yourself."

"But do we have the time?"  Basil pointed. "There's still a witch-ghost after Cole. He could be vulnerable and that could be the time she chooses to attack."

"That's the chance we'll have to take," Cole said quietly. "I can't let the demon essences gain control over my body. I'll become a walking natural disaster."

Beatrice sighed. "This is going to spread our resources even thinner. And just when our resources are at its lowest level…"

"It can't be helped," Aidan said gently, "we'll just have to do the best we can with what we have."

"So how do we get rid of those demon essences?" Cole asked

Aidan remained silent for a moment, thoughtful. "We'll have to catalogue all the different demons in you and come up with a vanquishing spell for all of them. This will send all of you back to the Wasteland. Then we'll get Elen to go there and bring you back." Elen was another member of the Committee. Her family had the hereditary ability to travel between the different dimensions. Generation after generation had been entrusted with the duty to help maintain the stability and separation between the different worlds. If there was one person who could bring him back, she could.

Provided he managed to survive the vanquishing.

"All right, just let me stop by the Manor first and just give them an idea about what's going on first," Cole said.

"Whatever you do, just get back here as soon as possible. We don't have much time," Aidan said, even as he picked up the phone, attending to all the other matters that were demanding the Committee's attention. 

"Ok, we've found the spell. Now what?" Phoebe asked, as she copied the spell out from the Book of Shadows. 

           The three sisters and Leo were in the attic, trying to figure out just what they should do. "The spell only frees the girl from possession. There's still the problem of the ghost. She could just possess somebody else – this could just keep going on and on," Piper said.

           Leo nodded. "She's still hanging around this plane of existence because there's something tying her down – the desire for revenge. She'll be able to move on once that desire's gone."

           "Great. So either we let her kill Cole and everyone else who was involved in her death or we tryto get her to give up the whole idea of revenge. Couldn't be easier," Phoebe said sarcastically. 

           "So what are we going to do?" Paige asked. "We're not going to let her kill Cole and I don't want to place all our bets on being able to get her to forget about getting revenge. Is there some way of trapping her spirit? Or just forcing her to move on?"

           "I'm not sure," Leo said, "I haven't come across a case like this before." He paused, thinking. "I think it could be done, but trapping her spirit still isn't going to solve the problem. And she's a witch, you can't force her to move on, she has to go willingly."

           "All right," Phoebe said with a sigh.  There were just too many uncertainties, too many different, scary possibilities. "The important thing is that we manage to de-possess the girl and keep Cole safe. As for the rest..." Phoebe sighed, trying to ignore the sense of foreboding that she felt. She had a feeling that things were going to get messy.

           Just then, Cole appeared in the attic. "Hey," he said, moving towards Phoebe.

           "So? What did they say?" Phoebe asked urgently in concern. 

           "I need to get rid of the demon essences," Cole said, telling them what he and the neutrals were going to do. 

           "Sounds awfully risky," Phoebe said doubtfully.

           "It'll also be awfully risky if I continue like this," Cole said. 

           "Don't worry, Phoebe," Piper said gently, "The neutrals will take good care of Cole." Then she told him what they had decided to do about the ghost.

           Cole sighed. "I shouldn't have dragged you guy into this," he said gloomily.

           "It's a little late now, don't you think?" Paige said tartly.

           "Paige…" Piper said. Then she said softly,  "C'mon, let's give them some time alone." _This just might be the last time they see each other. They need this. _ She and Leo had to drag Paige out of the attic.

           "I'm sorry," Cole said, as he loosely wrapped his arms around Phoebe's waist.

           "What's there to be sorry for?" she said, as she cupped her hand against Cole's chin. "You didn't want any of this either."

           "But still…"

           "Cole, I love you," Phoebe said firmly. "I don't have any regrets about that. I never had. Whatever problems we have, I want us to deal with it together." 

           Cole pulled her tightly into his arms. "Thank you," he said, with a soft sigh.

           "For what?"

           "For loving me as much as you do," he said, pulling back with a small smile on his face.

           She smiled. "Have you been reading romance novels again?" 

           Cole laughed. "Don't need to. I've got enough romance in my life." Then he sighed. "I have to go."

           "I know," Phoebe said as she slowly pulled away from Cole. But she still couldn't let go of his arms. "Come back to me safely," she said softly.

Cole nodded. "Be careful," he said, "I love you." Then he disappeared.

*~ To Be Continued ~*

            


End file.
